Potato digger chain



1940- v F. P. NOFFSINGER ET AL 2,210,462

POTATO DIGGER CHAIN Filed May 4, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS. FRED P. NOFFsmcER ROBERT W NOFFSINGER Hus-om E REYNOLDS.

ATTORNEY.

' 1940- F. P. NOFFSINGER ET AL 2.210.462

POTATO DIGGER CHAIN Filed May 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. FRED P. NOFFSJNGER JJQ. J. Roesznr W. Non-smear:

BY NELSON E.REYNOLD$ v ATT ORNEY.

Patented Aug. 6, 34G a srarss PATENT o:1=s1=-1cE POTATO BIGGER CHAIN F red P. Noffsinger, Robert Noffsinger, and Nelson E. Reynolds, "Greeley, 0010.

Application May 4, 1939, Serial No. 271,688

8 Claims. 01. 198-495.

This invention relates to a conveyor chain of will become more apparent from the following the bar type and more particularly to the type description. of chain known as a potato digger chain. On In the following detailed description of the a digger the chain isused as an elevator chain invention reference is had to the accompanying Ul'i'E 5 to elevate the dug potatoes and to sift the clods drawings which form a part hereof. Like nutherefrom. On a grader, these chains are used merals refer to like parts in all views of the drawto separate the various sizes of the potatoes in ings and throughout the description.

accordance with the spacing of the link bars. In the drawings:

The standard potato digger chain consis s of Fig. 1 is a face view of a section of the improved 5,10 2. series of parallel bars bent at their oxtr' ties chain. to form hooks which engage the next adjacent Fig. .2 is an edge view of a section of the imbar to provide an endless chain of parallel hooked proved chain. bars. This construction permits only a very Fig. 3 is a side view of one form of bearing spool small area of frictional contact between the hooks employed in the invention.

.15 and the bars which causes the hooks to quickly Fig. el is a cross section therethrough, taken on l5 wear away the bars at the point of contact to the line l l,Fig. 3. rapidly increase the pitch'of the chain until the F g. '5 Sh WS an outside fa f the bearing bars break through and the entire chain. must be spool.

discarded. The wear at this point is still fur Fig. 6 is a detail View illustrating a second .20 ther facilitated by the fact that the digger chains form of bearing spool.

must work in sand and soil which provides'a per- 7 s a ace V ew Of an a ternate form of .fect abrasive at the friction points, and also by the chain to be employed where great tensile the fact that since the hooks are formed on the strength is required.

bars, both are of the same type of material, a Fig. 8 is adetail view of the bearing spool em- ,25 condition which always facilitates bearing wear. .ployedwith the alternate form.

The principal object of this invention is to Fig. 9 is a cross section therethrough, take provide a digger chain construction which will on the line 9- 9, Fig. 8. v avoid the above difficulties of the usual chain; Fig. 10 is an edge view of the alternate form which will provide a relatively large contact area of the chain illustrating it inpos'itionon a typical ,30 at the points of friction; which will eliminate chain sprocket. all frictional contacts with the hooks; which will, The improved chain as shown in the first emprovide alink bearing construction which, when bodiment consists of a series of bars [0 the exit becomes worn, can be quickly and easily retremities of which are both bent to one sideand versed to provide new bearing surface so as to slightly back upon themselves to form inset link double the life of the chain; to provide a bar portions .H. The link portions H are turned 35 construction in which the metallic contacts will back upon themselves to form parallel sidedbe between differing types of metals; and tohooks H. The planes of the hooks are parallel eliminate all sharp corners or edges which would to each other and at right angles to the axis of result in damage to the jackets of the potatoes. .the bar l0.

40 7 Other objects of the invention are to provide As thus far described, the chain does not differ a chain from which any one or more of the links materially from the usual digger chain. In the can be quickly and easily removed, without the improved chain, however, the hooks are bent on use of a master link and without dismantling the a larger radius than in the usual chain and they entirechain, and yet to provide aconstruction in are prevented from contacting the surfaces of which it will be impossible for the links to become the adjacent bars by means of bearing spools 13. 45 unhooked while in operation; and to provide a Each spool has an axial bearing opening Id, of a link construction of a type which. can be doubled, diameter to rotatably receive a bar i0, and each where exceedingly great strains are imposed, so is surrounded by a peripheral arcuate hook as to greatly increase the tensional strength of groove 55 for receiving one of the hooks l2. The

.50 the usual bar chain without increasing the size two sides of each hook l2 are parallel to each less operating trouble than present chains. These rotation of the spools in the hooks. The two ,of the bars. other. The groove H: in each spool "is formed Other advantages reside in the detail construcin a corresponding shape so as to provide two .tionof the invention which is designed for greater parallel, straight portions 16 for receiving the ultimate economy, greater wearing qualities and straight parallel sides of the hook so'as'to-prevent faces of the spools are rounded back to the hook groove, as illustrated, so that there will be no sharp edges or corners for damaging the jackets of the potatoes.

The chain is designed to run over the usual chain shakers and sprockets. The latter engage the bars immediately inside of the spools and the inner faces of the latter are formed larger than the outer faces thereof to protect the hooks from frictional engagement with the sprocket teeth.

In cases where excessive wear is encountered, a sleeve it may be projected from the inner face of each spool member, as shown in Fig. 6, to prevent grit from entering between the spool members and the bar and to provide a bearing bushing for engaging the sprocket teeth so as to prevent tooth wear on the bars.

It will be noted that due to the tension of the chain, all of the wear in the bearing opening M will be along one side thereof. When this wear has progressed sufficiently to materially increase the pitch of the chain, all of the spool members may be given a one-half turn in their hooks so as to bring the unworn sides of the openings [4 against the bars to restore the chain pitch and to provide double life for the chain. The spools may be released for rotation by simply depressing a link bar from the chain run, as shown at the right in Fig. 2. This allows the depressed spools to be slid upwardly out of their hooks so that they can be easily turned to the new position and replaced.

When the chain is in its normal position, the spool members cannot be removed from their hooks due to the inwardly offset bends in the link portions ll which causes each link portion to contact the next adjacent hook should any attempt be made to compress the chain for unhooking purposes.

In Figs. '7 to 11, a second form of the chain is shown, embodying the same principle but designed for carrying excessive loads. This form of the chain consists of a series of link bars IS, the extremities of which are bent to provide a link portion 28. These portions are then continued to form a double, U-shaped hook 2|. From the double hook, the bar extremity is continued back to the straight portion of the bar and is welded thereto, as indicated at 22, to

provide a double link portion and double hook on the extremity of each bar. Naturally, this double member will withstand twice the strain of a single member in resisting straightening of the hook and, due to the welded end 22, it forms a closed structure the strength of which exceeds twice that of a single hook.

This form of the invention also employs a spool member 23 which surrounds the bar l9 between the sides of the double link member. The spool member is provided with two grooved bosses 24, one adjacent each of its extremities, which rest in the sockets of the hook of the next adjacent bar to prevent rotation of the spool member in the hooks. All rotation is confined to the surfaces between the bars and the spool members.

Grooved bosses may be placed on both sides of the spool member as illustrated, if desired to make this spool also reversible for wear.

A typical sprocket wheel is indicated at 25 in Fig. 19 with its teeth at 26. It will be noted that the teeth 26 will enter in the outline of the hooked portion of the bars and that the spool members the thrust and wear of the teeth 26.

In the ordinary chain the pitch increases so rapidly due to wear between the links that soon only one of all the teeth 26 is actually touching the chain. This concentration of load on a single tooth rapidly wears away both the chain and the sprocket, a condition which is avoided by the use of this invention.

It is desired to call attention to the fact that the spools and the ends of the hooks are so rounded and recessed that they blend tangentially into each other and no edges or corners are left to break or bruise the potatoes.

The first described form of bearing spool is much lighter in weight than the other forms and would thus decrease the entire weight of the chain. This decrease in weight would of course decrease bearing wear so that the shorter spools would probably wear as long as the longer spools.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A conveyor chain comprising: a series of link bars; a pair of bearing members mounted on each link bar; a connecting hook formed on each extremity of each bar, each of said hooks engaging a sleeve member on an adjacent bar, said hooks being non-circular; and a corresponding non-circular peripheral surface on said bearing members engaged by said hooks to prevent rotation of the latter on said bearing members.

2. In a conveyor chain of the type having a series of parallel, transversely extending bars terminating in hooks, a pair of bearing members surrounding each bar and receiving the hooks of the next adjacent bar, said bearing members being recessed for the reception of said hooks so as to prevent the bearing members from shifting on said bars.

3. In a conveyor chain of the type having a series of parallel, transversely extending bars terminating in hooks, a pair of bearing members surrounding each bar and receiving the hooks of the next adjacent bar, said bearing members being recessed for the reception of said hooks so as to prevent the bearing members fromshifting on said bars, said bearing members being noncircular in cross section at said recesses to prevent rotation of said bearing members in said hooks.

4. A conveyor chain comprising: a series of link bars; a pair of spool members mounted on each link bar; a connecting hook formed on each extremity of each bar engaging a spool member on an adjacent bar; and a sleeve formed on and extending inwardly along the bar from each of said spool members for engaging a chain sprocket.

5. A bearing member for digger chains of the bar and hook type comprising: a spool member having an axial passage for the reception of a bar and a peripheral groove for the reception of a hook.

6. A bearing member for digger chains of the bar and hook type comprising: a spool member having an axial passage for the reception of a bar and a peripheral groove for the reception of a hook, the contour of said groove being such as to prevent rotation of said spool member in said hook.

'7. A link bar for digger chains comprising: a bar, each extremity of each bar being bent to form a double U-shaped hook with the bar extremities returning back to the bar and being secured thereto, adjacent to but spaced from the bent extremities thereof; and bearing sleeves surrounding said bars between the bent extremities and the secured extremities thereof, for receiving the U-shaped hooks of an adjacent bar.

8. In a conveyor chain of the type having a series of parallel, transversely extending bars terminating in hooks, a pair of bearing members surrounding each bar and receiving the hooks of the next adjacent bar, said bearing members being recessed for the reception of said hooks so as to prevent the bearing members from shifting on said bars, the extremity of each hook being inclined into the recess of a bearing member so as to expose no sharp edges.

FRED P. NOFFSINGER. ROBERT W. NOFFSINGER. NELSON E. REYNOLDS. 

